Daredevil: How the Netflix Series Will Change the Marvel Cinematic Universe

We're mere days away from the release of the first of Netflix's four Marvel series - Daredevil, which will be followed by Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and then the Defenders team-up. The introduction of the street level heroes on this platform opens up all sorts of interesting possibilities for the connected Marvel Cinematic Universe.

IGN was able to speak with Daredevil stars Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock/Daredevil), Rosario Dawson (Claire Temple/Night Nurse), Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson), Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page), and the head of Marvel television Jeph Loeb about how this series will enhance and open doors in the MCU.

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The Avengers vs. The Defenders

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In reality when people are fighting and doing really bad, elicit crimes on the ground and there are guns and drugs - bones are going to break.

"We were thinking about The Avengers vs. The Defenders," Dawson said, when asked how she felt their dark and gritty series would fit in with the larger MCU. "And I think it's a different thing. When you've got that level of superpowers, the fighting is different, the stakes are different, and it has a grander feel. In that world, they exist in it, so they know it and it's normal to them. But in reality when people are fighting and doing really bad, elicit crimes on the ground and there are guns and drugs - bones are going to break. People aren't hitting each other and nothing's going to happen because they're indestructible. These are people. They're vulnerable and you get to experience that."

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"It gives you a different vibe," the actress continued. "It helps you understand the Marvel Universe that much more. That's what makes it fun to be putting this out there. It's like, 'Yeah, okay it's fantastic to see people in capes and spandex hitting each other, but we're really still talking about crimes. We're really still talking about people who step up and do what they can to make a difference in a positive way.' This [show] helps you relate that to the average Joe."

For the team behind the series, as well as audiences, Daredevil on Netflix afforded the opportunity to explore a more mature side of Marvel storytelling.

"My boyfriend is a huge comic book reader, grew up reading them," Woll noted. "And I like the idea that now there are these great Marvel franchises that are good for everyone, but it's nice to make something that's really just for grownups and something that can be a little more niche. We can be really specific about our storytelling. I like that we can open that up a little bit with these street-level stories."

This is the Bone-Crushing Side of the MCU

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We wanted to set out to tell a crime drama first, and a superhero story second.

As many have already seen in the trailers and preview footage for the series, Daredevil is gloriously violent. It's brutal. There's a level of savagery that's not only unusual for Marvel, but for most television series, even those on cable. It sets a very specific tone, and one that lends itself to the story they were seeking to tell.

"We didn't want to set out to tell a superhero story," Loeb explained of their creative intentions. "We wanted to set out to tell a crime drama first, and a superhero story second. It was also very important to us that New York City be a character in the story. And that the world of New York was much more the world of Hell's Kitchen -- that is, a place of battered brick, and wet streets, and steam coming up, and that amber hue that comes off the taxi cabs at night. That's the New York that Daredevil lives in."

The show thrusts the viewer into this vicious reality immediately, and that's particularly true for Karen Page's introduction. In that respect, Woll was able to draw on some of her experience on HBO's vampire series True Blood.

"I came on to True Blood with a real bang -- right out of the trunk of a car and thrust into this very dramatic moment," the actress reflected. "In a way, I got to use the same energy, that same tool, for Daredevil."

Would Captain America Approve?

"I don't know," Cox laughed when we jokingly asked if Cap would approve of his more femur-crushing methods.

In thinking about how these two tonally divergent creations may merge, the actor said that he believes there must be a way. And there must.

"I think it's possible," Cox enthused. "I think there's a way that the world's can merge. I think our show feels tonally and thematically a bit different from The Avengers movies, but it's all one universe and I feel like there's a way for Daredevil - and other characters, Luke Cage and street level crime characters - to fit into that universe. I think there has to be a way, and I think it's about finding an autonomous tone for that film - for Civil War."

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Continue on for the Spider-Man question, the continuation of the Netflix series, and more Daredevil...